the central our lives found in the forests my research has shown that forest trying to size reduces stress hormones and relaxes us in the future the time may come when doctors prescribe the forests in the state of medicine. in india a mining company is heading to australia to build one of the world's biggest mines will it be an economic bonanza or an ecological disaster. at this time on al-jazeera. oh. the iraqi army says it's taken full control of oil rich kirkuk in northern iraq from kurdish forces without resistance.

hello i'm barbara starr you're watching al-jazeera live from london also coming up on the program evading the question catalans leader fails to answer yes or no on whether the region has the cleared independence from spain portugal's prime minister declares a state of emergency is raging wildfires leave at least thirty two dead and angering more that mogadishu following the deadliest single attack in somalia's history. we begin the program with major developments out of iraq where government forces have taken control of the city of kirkuk according to security forces troops moved inside the provincial government building with no one position from kurdish forces deployed in the city iraqi lead forces arrived at the building and took position in the vicinity well thousands of civilians have fled the kurdish district of the city

heading in buses and cars towards kurdish controlled areas in northern iraq stratford is an air village in northern iraq but charles you were in kirkuk up until a few hours ago you saw a lot of this actually unfolding just talk us through exactly what you saw what you what you saw and also why kirkuk is so strategically important for the iraqi government. we arrived on the outskirts of kirkuk pretty early in the morning and already calls were beginning to build up the styles of families try to flee the city they among them increasing amounts of cash fighters and what was so interesting was that there were a number of people including peshmerga fighters that were standing by the road and were very angry about what they were seeing demanding that people stand their

ground and that the patients that were leaving go back into the city and fight i mean was taken everybody so by such surprises the speed with which the iraqi ministry seemed to have achieved their aims i mean it was fifteen hours that he's effectively taken them to do that it was this time last night that we had the kurdish factions the two main kurdish parties here saying that they were unified that they were going to stand their ground that they still refused to not a fight the result self this controversial referendum that we saw last month and that they would defend kill cook to the last man so this is a huge loss in kirkuk is of huge importance to the k r g they had seen it many people here describe it the kurds describe it as they jerusalem we understand that it has around four percent of the world's oil reserves in that area is one of the two main oil producing areas of iraq taking control of by the peshmerga came

two thousand and fourteen when the iraq even if she fled and i sold offensive. it seems now pretty much that that calls for kirkuk and keeping it part of what the could soar as a future independent state here in northern iraq such an integral part of that state it seems very much as if that dream has been lost. it really does charles so where does that leave then the k.-r. g. which is of course the regional government there. well as a say the k r j now will be looking for. and already the fingers of blame are beginning to appear for example one of the present barzani's leading advises has posted pictures on his twitter account all let's let's a posted by one of the main shia militia groups called

a cyber hug and this letter of thanks members leading members of one of the two main kurdish parties here for helping with this withdrawal of peshmerga forces from a killer cook. it's fair to say that it's not too conspiratorial to to suggest that the swiftness of this withdrawal with such little resistance savingly there has to be a bigger reason as to why this happened. and then the context of the kind of international pressure on the k r g in the wake of this referendum it only pills more pressure on the government is and of course the baghdad government still do that as i say the k r g makes these referendum results nolen void before any kind of discussion any kind of face to face talks happening so this victory for the iraqi military in kirkuk can only put even more pressure on the quay argy chance

transferred with the latest from arab male charles thank you and now let's cross the hash the reason antakya in southern net turkey so what reaction to all of this from turkey hash. barbara turkey is now stepping in putting more pressure on the by closing its space to the kurdish regional government decision followed also by a move to hand over the border crossing which is the main border crossing between turkey and iraq to this central government. that was and their control of the kurds this isn't comes after a recommendation by turkey's national security council which is the highest security body in the country wish to explain that this is something which is taken seriously by the turkish government and i have to say that since the outcome of the

referendum in kurdistan we've seen the turkish government trying to redefine its relationships and by getting closer to iran and to iraq talking about military coordination we've seen joint military drills between the iraqi military is in the near the border crossing we've seen talks between turkish president but as a player in his iranian counterpart about the need to further cooperate and take into consideration of the outcome of the referendum turkey considers the referendum a. mistake an illegal and a threat to its national security and this explains why now the turkish government is taking a very tough measures against. those days when in the past the iraqi government would complain to the international community about turkish troops stationed in or near mosul and asking those troops to pull out from iraq now what

we're seeing is a new trend which is basically iraq iran and turkey trying to consolidate their relationship in the face of the yes vote. this referendum. with the latest from antakya hashem thank you. catalonians leader has failed to declare if his region plans to secede from spain just hours before a bad line from the spanish government catalyst pushed them all to asked for more dialogue in a letter to the central government reports from barcelona. it was supposed to be a monday deadline for the catalan president's response to the drugs demands that he clarify his position on secession lacked any definitive answers in his letter to

spain's prime minister might enter a holy catalyst breach of one said that the suspension of the political mandate given by the polls in october first demonstrates our firm will to find a solution and not confrontation not exactly the yes or no response required by the spanish government before it decides whether to push ahead with suspending catalonia as autonomous powers going to pretend that i know that on such an important issue we only asked for clarity to extend uncertainty will only favor those who wish to end peaceful coexistence and to continue with the poor project the government hopes that in the following hours up until the next deadline on thursday mr push will give the clarity that all citizens demand and the rule of law requires we can understand his preservations and confusion unless he's doing that to meet the demands of the most radical groups the spanish government is maintaining it's tough stance on mr preacher moment but it has given away just a fraction on the question of the deadline the ball and the fact is back in the

catalan government's caught with a constitutional crisis is far from over societies are getting exhausted for the public functioning and the normal running it's also affecting every day's life of people so it would be very positive for everyone if they could find a solution soon but it seems it's not going to. the crisis is once again being prolonged but there is little clarity about how this will end and which side will back down first and many whatever the capital and government decides to do it will pay the price for holding the referendum in the first place so our jazeera barcelona spain is high court has ruled catalonia as police chief will not be held in custody as he is investigated for sedition josep faced a court hearing on monday prosecutors say he failed to rescue officers from the civil guard and national police force who were trapped inside a cattle and government building in barcelona by pro independence protesters the

court says his passport will be withdrawn while the investigation continues well a little earlier i spoke to. his catalonia as minister of foreign affairs he told me that more talking is needed because he believes the spanish government is not respecting the rule of law taking control on the cut on finances they are putting them prison people without having committed any crime they are closing down they're shutting down websites there are. also not only the constitutional principles but also the laws as such so from that perspective they are already implementing the article hundred fifty five so they are doing they are violating their own rules so that would we need to put on the table that we need to stretch this is not depending on what we see on thursday this is actually happening the constant violations of the law of the constitution by the spanish side by the spanish the east something that we need to address elliptically because from the legality point

of view i understand we will see that this is not going to happen any thinking about it is sent because organizing a referendum is not a crime so that when we are confronted with. at least thirty two people have been killed in wildfires ravaging parts of portugal three people have died as a result of fires that broke out across the border in spain a state of emergency has been the clarity as firefighters continue to battle the flames which have been worsened by storm ophelia reports. a prolonged drought plus i'm usually high in mid october heat already deadly combination. the wildfires herring's through the parched forests of central and northern portugal have claimed dozens of lives and made many more homeless of the rhythms of humans but. obviously we would like to present our deep condolences to the families of these victims as you know sunday was

a day when all records registered this year were beaten we reached the maximum of five hundred twenty four fires and today since midnight we've already registered a total of one hundred ten fires. and over the border fires raged in spain's northwestern gully theory to. more than one hundred separate blazes there's been a number of fatalities including two people who died when their car was trapped by the flames thousands have been evacuated much of the destruction here is not natural but deliberate in spain arsonists are said to strike every year prime minister mariano rajoy is a native of here. most of what we are dealing with here is something that is not caused by accident it has been provoked we are here in perth as the board then where there's been a big farm which began at one in the morning at five different points so you can see it's impossible for this to be triggered under natural circumstances in spain

schools were shocked as the fires closed in on towns and villages threatening more lives and livelihoods like rainfall is forecast that may help existing wished the flame. but not soon enough to avoid portugal second such tragedy in four months after sixty four people were killed by wildfires in june joe to hold al-jazeera. still to come on the program the desperate bid to leave the violence in myanmar ends in disaster for more hinge of refugees and israel's government gives the go ahead for dozens of new set their homes and the heart of hebron. welcome back as we look at the levant and western parts of asia you see the clouds streaming down from the north moving across the caucasus who found some snow here

that weather system is pushing across the caspian sea back you'll see quite a brisk wind developing through the day and temperatures no better than fourteen otherwise still largely draw that state from stan looking at highs of twenty eight that conditions for the south but notice the temperature coming down in baghdad just thirty one degrees for q.a. city thirty four as a high heading on through into wednesday the system moves further towards the east and a bit of snow likely higher elevations otherwise fine weather conditions around the eastern side of the mediterranean but twenty seven is a nice when beirut in the arabian peninsula the winds we've had over the last few days nowhere near as strong through a choose day should be pleasant though in doha with highs of thirty eight with relatively low humidity and certainly six and abu dhabi still looking fine on the other side of the potential the two with temperatures in the upper thirty's for both mecca and medina but certainly a cooling trend i think at the moment now as we head across into southern portions of africa we have got the threat of some showers for cape town so it towards the

eastern cape otherwise it's looking fine sunshine for johannesburg fine across through into zombie respect and a high of thirty seven degrees in the soccer. now

reminder of the top stories here on al-jazeera the iraqi army taken full control of the oil rich northern city of kirkuk without resistance from kurdish forces. or has failed to declare. dialogue in a letter to the. people have been killed in wildfires in central and northern portugal over the past twenty four hours. twelve people including six children have died after a boat carrying. capsized in the bay of bengal the boat capsized as it was approaching cox's bazar survivors have told local officials of the sixty five

people were on board at the time more than one hundred eighty were have died in boating accidents while crossing into bangladesh and more than half a million have fled since fighting erupted in myanmar's kind state. well a field hospital is opened in bangladesh to help some of the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the government run hospitals have been struggling to provide proper medical care from cox's bazar thumbed their child reports. a fully cured failed ospital open in long refugee areas with the help of norway d. and finnish red cross society there are doctors and nurses volunteers from bangor there's red crescent society as well here now this is about the size of. this going to come at it up to sixty and house patients that i don't patient clinic there is a facilities that are surgical unit there are a delivery unit there maternity unit a very impressive set up i must say it's got electric supply water supply and a highly sanitized place filled also but i like this are very badly needed within

the refugee camp areas the government hospitals are inadequately acute to deal with the number of refugees crossed over into bangladesh let alone local people they're also not well acute this hospital got all the modern equipment from makes their deposits are very united if in the long run a hospital like this is a set up filled ospital like this are set up within the refugee camp area it could made the long term strategy to deal with the refugees health issues in bangladesh in coming years more than three hundred people have now died after twin bomb explosions in somalia on saturday with forty of the most severely wounded flown to turkey for further treatment it's the deadliest single attack in somalia's history catherine soy has more now from nairobi. a talkie military plane was used to transport several somalis with serious injuries from saturday's attacks in mogadishu they'll receive treatment in tokyo. other countries like kenya and ethiopia are also offering logistical help while locals have reason to the occasion

helping where they can like retrieving bodies from the rubble providing food and water for my agency workers and just being there for those who are grieving. we have been able to take those. systems of the government and other partners we will prevail. but people here are also angry hundreds to to the streets of the city protesting against the attack blaming our shabaab the armed groups fighting the government and african union peacekeepers inside somalia i thought. it was a message i've never seen anything like it in the last twenty seven years i saw a little boy's head lying on the ground it was shocking. no one has yet claimed responsibility but while speaking to al-jazeera and al shabaab spokesman refused to confirm or deny responsibility the president has visited the scene blames what he

calls terrorists targeting innocent civilians saturday's attack happened in two different areas during rush hour a busy intersection in another business district in the heart of the city the number of those killed continues to rise residents of mogadishu a still. cathy zoi al jazeera nairobi. a high profile investigative journalist and malta who was strongly critical of the government has been killed in a car bombing that. wrote a popular blog highlighting alleged corruption with many involving politicians on the mediterranean island nation prime minister joseph was scared to face the accusations from. earlier this year made a t.v. statement denouncing the killing. the israeli government has approved the construction of israeli settlement units in hebron in the occupied west bank it's the first time the government has given official approval for construction in hebron in fifteen years harri force had reports from hebron hebron as newest

israeli settlers are due to live here on what is now a military base adjoining another settler building the approval for plans for thirty one housing units is the first in this bitterly divided city since two thousand and two it reside or need to be on to the balcony of the house that he was born in seventy years ago it overlooks the site for him this decision will only increase the burden of restrictions on movement that have been his daily life. we can hardly manage it with ten settlers in front of this can you imagine how two hundred we turn our lives upside down. hebron streets marked by stark close quarter separation hundreds of settlers kept apart from thousands of palestinians with cages barbed wire and a large israeli army presence conditions which attract mostly religiously radical right wing settlers the approval would change the designation of this land from a military base to housing use and given that the israeli army seized it on

security grounds that does open up the prospect of a legal challenge hebron as mayor says he plans to do just that this is the first announcement in a series of approvals planned for this week nearly three thousand eight hundred housing units are expected to be given either advance or retrospective approvals bringing this year's total to more than twice that of twenty sixteen all of which are illegal under international law. israeli prime minister while telling certainly groups he remains under u.s. pressure to rein in construction apparently feels freer to build with president donald trump in the white house and with his predecessor the israeli government is offering no comment beyond announcing the approval in recent weeks netanyahu has been looking to shore up his prosthetic credentials saying not a single israeli settlement would ever be given up one in hebron is due instead to get bigger hurry forsett al-jazeera have run in the occupied west bank the defense minister of the philippines and says two senior commanders of armed groups linked to i saw have been killed in fighting in the southern city of they've been battling

the army for control of the city since may the government says they are now on the verge of finally driving them out jimmy erling though god has the latest now from the city of what. it is the end of an era says the philippine military the leaders of the multi-group leeland happy law and omar were killed in a military operation early on monday morning but it says the victory is bittersweet it is a conflict that has dragged on for far too long even the officials here admit more than a thousand people have been killed and the hundred thousand more displaced since the fighting began the more than four months ago so is there a little less. abundant. one of the leaders of the abu sayyaf group in the southern philippines he pledged allegiance to a few years ago and declared leader of an islamic state he wanted to set up in

southeast asia together with his supporters he joined forces with another armed group called the mountain last year the mountains started as a private militia in line now those who are province or more and they pledged allegiance to to the group took control of several parts of the city a few months ago it raised its black flag over several government facilities and took thousands of civilians hostage. there was killed a few months ago in one of the battles inside but are we. more than four months on much of morality is now in ruins according to the philippine military the fighting may finally end this with. about two hundred meters across that blake is the last remaining stronghold all of them out to go. around thirty of them continue to battle it out against the philippine military. but they still have hostages with

them and it's making the situation complicated. in the midst of congratulatory salutes are questions whether lessons have been learned. for. the fighters there may have been a setback to the leadership but it doesn't signal the end of the mountain are their eyes so inspired groups in mindanao the people of moore are we say they're happy knowing the siege will be over soon so much blood has been spilled here they say and the city they love has turned desolate. dogon. city southern philippines. three people have been killed as the remnants of hurricane ophelia moves across our land the storm has brought strong winds and heavy rainfall and three hundred sixty thousand properties in the republic of ireland are now without power. well the storm also calls an unusual phenomenon across britain winds

broadcasts from both the sahara desert and from wildfires in spain and portugal to the british capital charlie angela has more now from london. well here in london people are really looking where they're going because that all looking up in the sky and that's because it's turned quite alarming brown color so incredibly windy i spoke to the met office earlier that's the u.k.'s national weather could be in explain it as hurricane ophelia tracked across the border and then over north africa it picked up sand particles from the sun harra then as it went up over spain and portugal picked up the smoke particles from the wildfires that are reaching this combination has created the color because the blue light is being deflected back up into the atmosphere the red light is being allowed through the particles a very high up in the atmosphere and there's no knock on effect for people with any risk your difficulty but it is creating quite

a buzz here in london. as it was an amazing view from the shard where we are as well now pope francis has called on all governments to work together to do more to end world hunger same the attitude of someone else will do it just isn't good enough speaking in rome on world food day the pontiff said hunger conflict and climate change of now made hunger widespread the united nations says hunger levels have risen for the first time in a decade and eight hundred fifteen million people are affected. speaking of which after a long drought several countries in southern africa are enjoying a bumper harvest zambia's even selling excess maize to other countries but poor farmers remain vulnerable to unpredictable weather patterns reports. alister christer says this maze is the last of her reserves if the rains come late the season or if there is another drought her family will be in trouble it won't be in a if i can't get

a job washing clothes i won't be able to buy food if the maize runs out the united nations estimates that small scale farmers grow about eighty five percent of zambia's food. and her sister say it's been a frustrating few years the drought and a pest invasion earlier this year by the fall army were destroyed some of the maize production costs also high reduce our growing less than we used to grow even cabbages for reduced because of way electricity prices are high margaret says she pays on average four hundred dollars a month for power to irrigate ten acres of land despite the challenges that beah has had good crops of maize the country's staple food which is sometimes sells to other countries in africa we had a crop of maize. three point six million tonnes compared to last year where we had a drought of two point six million tonnes so means that you have. this moment in

time but weather patterns in southern africa keep changing farmers know at some point they will be another drought despite relative political stability and more than a decade of consistent economic growth still has a lot of talent has the world food program says more than sixty percent of the population is poor it's also is to make it forty percent of children under the age of five in zambia have stunted growth because of money tradition the government is already more may storage facilities and also trying to encourage farmers like alice to grow drought resistant crops such as millet sorghum and. alice says she's considering making the change but convincing enough people to do the same could take time. now reminder of the top stories on al-jazeera the iraqi army says it's taken for control of the oil rich northern city of kirkuk according to security forces troops

moved inside the provincial government building with no opposition from kurdish forces deployed in the city thousands of civilians have fled the kurdish districts of the city heading in buses and cars towards kurdish controlled areas of northern iraq shall stratford has more now from a peon. thousands of families we saw queues of cause rushing to get away from kirkuk as quickly as possible and also many. as well what was so interesting was that a lot of people were standing by the side of the road and demanding and telling people and the peshmerga to get back into the city and fight i think what is so incredibly surprising is the speed with which this victory for the iraqi forces has happened the spanish government has warned catalonia separatist leader that he has only three days left to return to legality it comes after katniss pushed the month

refused to say whether he would follow through one of right to secede from spain instead he asked for more dialogue in a letter to the central. at least thirty two people have been killed in wildfires in central and northern portugal over the past twenty four hours nearly six thousand firefighters are battling the thirty major fires which are still raging the blazes which broke out over the weekend are being fanned by strong winds from storm ophelia a state of emergency has been declared. twelve people including six children have died after a boat carrying range of muslims sank in the bay of bengal the refugees were approaching the bangladeshi border district of cox's bazaar when their vessel capsized the best toll from somalia's twin bomb explosions on saturday has risen to more than three hundred forty of the most severely wounded victims have been transferred to turkey for further treatment it's the deadliest single attack in the

country's history with the government blaming the armed group al-shabaab. i'm going to have a much more news for you in less than half an hour with the al-jazeera news hour stay with us now though coming up next it's inside story of. the earth. with. sebastian kurtz declares victory in austria as national election feels to the right so where will the so-called one that could take austria this is ryan's mean for europe this is inside story.